Wall Street trading firm trueEx is set to launch a derivatives platform for cryptocurrency

TrueEx is launching a derivatives platform for cryptocurrency, the company announced Monday.

It also entered into a partnership with ConsenSys to build a benchmark rate for ether, the second largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization.

TrueEx, the trading technology company, is preparing to dive into the world of cryptocurrency with a new derivatives marketplace.

The company said Monday it is preparing to launch trueDigital, which will list non-deliverable forward (NDF) contracts for cryptocurrency, the first of which will be for bitcoin. Already, trueEx faciliates trading for interest rate swaps.

TrueDigital, which will operate under a trueEx affiliate called trueDigital Holdings, is pending regulatory review by the Commodity Futures Commission, the company said.

TrueDigital would join a number of other bitcoin derivative marketplaces in the US. Cboe Global Markets and CME Group launched bitcoin futures in December. Nasdaq is preparing to launch a bitcoin futures market in 2018.

“NDFs on digital assets are the logical next step for institutional investors who are seeking exposure to bitcoin and other digital currencies,” Brooks Dudley, a VP of risk at ED&F Capital Markets, said in a statement.

TrueEx also announced a partnership with ConsenSys to build a benchmark rate from ether to make the second-largest crypto by market cap more attractive to traditional financial-services firms.

Up until last week, trueEx was seeking talent for a cryptocurrency derivatives exchange called Virtuoso, for which the company posted a job ad seeking a Sales Director. The ad was taken down from LinkedIn after Business Insider sent a company official an inquiry.

“Virtuoso is a new digital asset and digital derivative exchange, with a focus on bringing regulated and secure trading to institutional investors across the world,” the ad said.

The Sales Director would aim to build relationships with “top-tier” banks, asset managers, and hedge funds, the job ad said. A press representative for trueEx described trueDigital as the same project as Virtuoso, “just now a newly-formed affiliate of trueEx.”